A logistics operation that involves shipping one or more items often includes loading a container with the items and transporting the container from an originating point to a destination point. Such a container may include, but is not limited to, a unit load device (ULD) deployed typically with shipments transported on aircraft; shipping containers deployed typically with single mode and/or intermodal freight shipments; a semi-trailer pulled by a truck; or even a designated storage space within a delivery vehicle (such as a delivery van). Items to be shipped are loaded within the container so that the items may be safely shipped with the container to a different location via a mode of transportation (e.g., aircraft, train, automotive vehicle, and the like).
Effective management of such a logistics operation is needed as a measure, for example, of cost control when shipping items in a container. The time it takes to properly and safely load a container has an impact on the cost effective throughput of the logistics operation as well as the safety of those involved in the logistics operation. Indeed, the manner in which the container is loaded can also have an impact on the cost effectiveness of the logistics operation.
In more detail, logistics operations face further problems when loading a container. For example, it may be difficult to efficiently and/or effectively quantify the used or available space left within the container as the container is loaded and manage such quantified information as part of the logistics operation. The existence of multiple different configurations of containers may pose problems when attempting to quantify such space. And while attempting to quantify such space may occur continuously, doing so often puts a strain on the quantifying equipment resources (such as battery power, memory, etc.) resulting in less efficient operations.
Additionally, loading operations of larger containers may present an unsafe and undesired operational safety condition if not properly and efficiently managed. For example, workers that may be loading a container may find they might become unintentionally locked within the container. This may pose a safety issue for the worker. Thus, a need exists to enhance detection of one or more operational safety conditions related to or within a container as a way to improve the logistics operation of loading the container.
Further, there may be times when a shipping item may not yet be scanned for dimensional information related to the item before loading into the container or the prior scanned dimensional information may be inaccurate. As such, there is a need for a way to transform available material dimension data related to the shipped item as a check on a shipped item's dimensional data and to enhance the accuracy of any quantization of space used or left within a container being loaded.
Even further, there may be times when an item being loaded within the storage space of a container may be placed in a portion of the storage space that may not be easily viewed or sensed. For example, an item may be placed into a location within the storage space where another item may at least partially block sensing of what may be loaded into that location. When an item is placed into such a location, an accurate fullness or loaded volume state of the container may be difficult to sense with a depth sensor or scanner. As such, there is a need for an improved way to detect and account for when the item is placed within the container that may not be easily viewed yet still provide for accurate loaded volume measurements for the container as it is being loaded.
To address one or more of these issues, there is a need for a more versatile, intelligent type of equipment used to help manage and track loading operations for a container and do so in a cost effective manner.